Man Leaves Baby Girl In Hot Car… Does The Unthinkable To Try And Revive Her

A Texas man resorted to desperate measures when he tried to revive his 6-month-old daughter after leaving her in a hot car.

Michael Thedford, upon realizing he left his baby girl in his van for about three hours, put her body in a refrigerator in an attempt to revive her, according to an arrest affidavit.

Thedford, 33, had dropped off his other two children, ages 3 and 5, at day care Tuesday around 9 a.m. The 6-month-old had a fever and could not go to day care. Thedford returned home and went inside to go to sleep.

Related Stories

When he woke up about three hours later, he discovered her, KDFW reported.

Thedford told police the baby’s body was stiff and “hot as a brick,” and he “placed the child in the refrigerator for an undetermined length of time prior to calling 911,” the affidavit revealed.

Police arrested Thedford and charged him with manslaughter after Collin County sheriff’s deputies found the baby unresponsive in the family’s home Tuesday afternoon.

Advertisement - story continues below

Criminal attorney Todd Shapiro said he believed Thedford may have been negligent but not reckless, according to the law.

“I think it’s going overboard. I think they’ve overcharged him, based on the facts of this case,” he said. “It looks like he tried to do CPR to resuscitate her to no avail, so it sounds like his actions were very much as a parent that was living out their very worst nightmare.”

Thedford’s neighbor, Fabiola Contreras, was shocked that anyone could forget a child in a car.

“Forgetting a child? His child? It’s hard to believe because how can you forget a child in your own car? It’s your child,” she told KTVT.